A Captain's Farewell
by Razamataz22
Summary: Luffy is on the verge of death and gives some meaningful words to his crew. A dark one-shot


**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece**

...

The Going Merry had never been so quiet. None of the nakama dared talk dare it cause their captain to stir in the slightest. He had been in bed for three days straight, only waking once or twice for the briefest of moments, after forgoing the antidote. The crew remembered the moment. They had woken up one morning to find that all of the devil fruit users aboard their ship had fallen deathly ill. Nami had navigated the ship to the nearest island and they had found a doctor who explained that they had breathed in sea mist, in other words on the bottom of that part of the ocean a split in the earth had formed and all the seastone residing there was burning due to the magma. As such, while most of the crew had been unaffected, Robin, Luffy and Chopper had inhaled their greatest weakness.

The doctor had explained that if not cured it could prove to be fatal and with that he had quickly made some medicine which he hoped to be effective. However the dosage was not enough for all three devil fruit users. Luffy, using the last of his strength, commanded his nakama to give the antidote to Chopper and Robin before setting off. All of them had argued, even Robin despite her weak state, that he should be the one to take the medicine. He had explained that the life of his nakama meant more than his own life. Before slipping into unconsciousness, he ordered Nami to give the cure to Chopper and Robin and then set sail for the next island, stating that no illness would prevent him from becoming king of the pirates.

Three days had passed since then and while Robin and Chopper were cured, Luffy had remained comatose in his bed. Chopper had gone about trying to make a substitute medicine but to no success. Even Sanji's cooking brought to his nose wouldn't snap him out of the disease. Slowly they had come to realise that he could pull himself through the disease.

The ship had anchored for the night and Nami went to check on Luffy, however when she opened the door she found that he wasn't in his bed and that the infamous straw hat was sitting atop his pillow. "He's gone!" shouted Nami signalling the alarm. In an instance, everyone had woken up from their slumber and had rushed to Luffy's room where they couldn't believe his eyes. Instantly they searched the ship through and through until they found him, sitting cross legged atop the head of the Going Merry.

"I just wanted to feel the breeze in my face once more," said Luffy, his weak words only just reaching the ears of his nakama. "Something tells me that our journey has come to an end."

"Don't say that Luffy, I'll make you an antidote," shouted Chopper struggling to prevent tears streaming down his face.

"It's too late Chopper," said Luffy turning to face them. Even staring death in the face he managed to smile. "As your captain, I'm telling you all to follow your dreams and your heart. You all joined this crew because you wanted something; don't let my death put you off. Zoro, you will be the greatest swordsman. Nami, you will make a map of the world. Usopp, you have already become a brave warrior of the sea. Sanji, you will find 'All Blue.' Chopper, you will become the greatest doctor. Robin, you will find what you are looking for. But through it all, make sure Shanks gets his hat." Hardly an eye was dry as Luffy finished his speech with a chuckle. With a final smile, Luffy's eyelids closed and his body collapsed off the head and fell into the water below.

"LUFFY!" they all shouted as Sanji and Zoro charged forward and dove into the water, the wellbeing of their captain all that mattered. Minutes passed as the rest of the crew looked overboard in anticipation. Suddenly, the heads of Zoro and Sanji emerged but alas, no Luffy.

"Could you tell your friends to come aboard?" asked a calm and collective voice on the other side of the ship near the captain's room. The crew turned to see Ace standing there, the body of Luffy in his arms and an empty vile on the ground.

Within seconds, Robin's arms had pulled Sanji and Zoro aboard as Ace laid Luffy down on his bed. He closed the door behind him, allowing Luffy to get some much needed feverless rest. "How did you find us?" asked Nami, tears of joy in her eyes.

Ace reached into the pocket of his shorts and pulled a tiny piece of paper, nearly completely burned. "This vivre card told me that he was in trouble and even though I was on a mission, I was not going to let my brother die without saying goodbye," he explained.

"How did you know what he was suffering from?" asked Chopper.

"Because I suffered from the same disease at one time. Since then I carry around an antidote just in case," said Ace. Without warning, Nami charged forward and embraced Ace in a hug.

"Thank you so much," she said weeping into his chest.

"Just be happy that he's alive," said Ace with a smile. "He likely won't wake for a day or two but at least you know he is going to be okay. Anyway, I best be going."

"You're not going to wait to see if he is alright?" asked Usopp.

Ace smiled a devious smile at them as he placed his foot on the railing of the ship. "I know he'll be alright, he's my brother."

...

**This is easily the darkest thing that I have written so far and while it had a happy ending I felt so sad writing it. Please review and tell me what you think.**


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